Future Ready Learning

LEVERAGING THE POWER OF NETWORKS: CULTIVATING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS
Cities of LRNG helps close the opportunity gap by connecting young people with a
wide range of learning opportunities throughout their cities. The program makes learning
activities from hundreds of community organizations easily discoverable to youth
and their families on a single online platform.
Each LRNG city has a website where partner organizations can make their offerings
visible. Young people receive recommended activities on the basis of their personal
passions. For example, in Chicago through the local Chicago Cities of Learning initiative,
more than 120 organizations have provided a collective 4,500 engaging learning
opportunities for tens of thousands of young people in all areas of the city through the
its platform.
As students participate in learning activities, they earn digital badges that showcase
their skills and achievements. These digital badges signify mastery of a
skill—for example, coding, games, design, or fashion—giving out-of-school
learning greater currency by documenting and archiving learning wherever it
occurs. Each time a young person earns a badge, he or she is recommended
additional learning experiences and invited to broaden or deepen skills to
propel him or her along academic, civic, or career trajectories. Because digital
badges contain in-depth information about each individual’s learning experiences,
schools and potential employers can gain a comprehensive view of each
person’s interests and competencies.
Hive Learning Networks, a project of the Mozilla Foundation, organize and support
city-based, peer-to-peer professional development networks and champion connected
learning, digital skills, and Web literacy in youth-serving organizations in urban
centers around the world. Using a laboratory approach and catalytic funding model,
Hive re-imagines learning as interest based and empowers learners through collaboration
with peer educators, youth, technology experts, and entrepreneurs.
Similar to Cities of LRNG, Hive networks are made up of community-based
organizations, including libraries; museums; schools; after-school programs;
and individuals, such as educators, designers, and artists. Hive participants
work together to create learning opportunities for youth within and beyond
the confines of traditional classroom experiences, design innovative practices
and tools that leverage digital literacy skills for greater impact, and
advance their own professional development.
The Hive model supports three levels of engagement:
1. Events. Organizations with shared learning goals unite to provide fun,
engaging events, such as maker parties, as a first step toward exploring
longer term collaborations.
2. Learning Communities. Community organizers with an interest in Hive’s core
principles come together in regular meet-ups and events to explore how to
apply connected learning tools and practices. Learning communities are in
seven cities in the United States, Canada, and India.
3. Learning Networks. With an operational budget and staff, Hive Learning
Networks commit to promoting innovative, open-source learning models in
partnership with a community’s civic and cultural organizations, businesses,
entrepreneurs, educators, and learners. Learning Networks are in New York,
Chicago, and Pittsburgh.
OFFICE OF Educational Technology
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